Schumer's change of heart: Senator now supports gay marriage

At a private risotto dinner Sunday night with gay leaders and elected officials at Gramercy Tavern last night, Sen. Chuck Schumer reversed himself on the issue of same-sex marriage, saying he not only now supports it but also backs a full reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Schumer's office confirmed the meeting and also the senior senator's change of heart, issuing the following statement from the Brooklyn Democrat:

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It's hard to overstate the significance of this in the eyes of gay marriage advocates.

Clinton's departure from the New York political stage arguably gave Schumer some breathing room on this issue.

Both Clinton and Schumer were under pressure from the gay community (which includes some very heavy-hitting political donors) to change their position from supporting civil unions to backing marriage, but they both refused to budge.

While Clinton was running for president, there was no way Schumer could move on this topic - no matter how much he might have wanted to follow the lead set by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his lt. gov., David Paterson - especially since Barack Obama also took the civil-union-only approach.